Student Spotlight: Zahra Hamdani

Meet Zahra from Bethesda, Maryland. She is majoring in Anthropology with a minor in Wildlife Ecology and Conservation—offered through the College of Natural Sciences’s Department of Environmental Conservation—driven by her love of the ocean. 

Zahra first became infatuated with the sea at a very young age. “Like Moana, I have always been drawn to the ocean—despite hating hot weather. Ever since I went to SeaWorld back when I was three, I knew I was hooked—I knew right away that I wanted to do something with marine animals, specifically bottlenose dolphins and sea turtles.” 

As she got older, Zahra blended her interest in marine life with various aspects of her academics: “I wanted to learn everything about it and how certain issues affect the marine environment. Every project I did for elementary and middle school was about dolphins and the ocean. When high school came, my biggest projects and final papers were about how specific issues, such as oil spills and climate change, affect marine life and shape our future.” 

Upon arriving at CNS, Zahra’s initial major was Environmental Science, but as she sought to incorporate her other passion—anthropology—into her studies, she decided that the Wildlife Ecology and Conservation minor was a better fit. 

With her major and minor in place, Zahra dove into classwork, and found that some of her favorite classes have been those offered through the Department of Environmental Conservation’s Natural Resource Conservation (NRC) progam—specifically, Environment and Society (NRC 100) and Wildlife Conservation (NRC 261). “Lena Fletcher and Laura Figueroa were my two favorite instructors freshman year. They taught me a great deal about my field of interest and their methods of teaching are excellent. They let their students work together on projects and in groups, so that we could put what we've learned in class into practice, and this welcoming, open environment allowed us to share ideas and learn from one another. They wanted us to learn a little bit and then go out and explore on our own terms; they weren’t interested in hardcore lessons and hours of notes.” 

Outside of class, Zahra has been involved with the Environmental Science Club, the McCormack Sports Analytics Club (MSA), and the Wildlife Club. She also finds time to weave in her love of volleyball: “I would have played for the girls club volleyball team this past fall semester, but tragically couldn’t, due to getting Covid 19. But I plan to play this coming fall. For now, I’ve been playing intramural co-ed volleyball.” 

Based on what she has experienced thus far, Zahra feels that her post-college career may veer toward work that is more collaborative. “I’ve been exposed to a lot of group work, which I realized I really like. So, I think I’d want to do that for a couple of years after college.” 

No matter what she does, Zahra has a clear mission that drives her: “I want to make other people aware of what’s happening on our planet and in our community, and what we can do ourselves to change it for the better.”